Daily American: Turkeyfoot opens new pre-K classrooms
November 22, 2022
The Somerset County Commissioners and other local leaders visited a new Head Start expansion classroom at the Turkeyfoot Valley Area School District. The commissioners were joined by Turkeyfoot and Community Action Partnership for Somerset County officials, as well as Head Start students to mark the new classrooms with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
“I am very excited by so many visitors to our program today to mark the passage of the 2022-23 state budget that includes a $79 million increase for more of Pennsylvania’s 3- and 4-year-olds to attend Pre-K Counts and Head Start,” said Anne Garrison, director of Early Childhood Education at CAPFSC.
“This $79 million increase is important because we know that 62% of income eligible 3- and 4-year-olds in Somerset County do not yet have access to publicly funded high-quality pre-K. This equates to more than 600 income eligible 3- and 4-year-olds still lacking access to these services every year in our county.
“Across Pennsylvania more than 100,000 eligible 3- and 4-year-olds are waiting. Tableland Services Inc. Early Childhood Programs are committed to helping educate the youngest learners to keep the Commonwealth growing in its early childhood programs.”
The Head Start expansion classroom at Turkeyfoot Valley Area School District was made possible by the infusion of an additional $60 million in funding for the Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts Program and $19 million for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program as part of the state’s 2022-23 budget.
Together, this new funding will allow roughly 2,300 additional students access to pre-K. Pre-K Counts and the Head Start State Supplemental are the primary state funding sources for pre-K in Pennsylvania.
Kara McFalls, associate executive director of the Pennsylvania Head Start Association and a principal partner in the Pre-K for PA Campaign, said that access to high-quality pre-K is an important part of a child’s opportunity to lead a prosperous life.
Read the full article here.
MyChesCo: Leaders Celebrate New Pre-K Counts Classroom
November 18, 2022
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Local, state and federal government leaders visited a new Pre-K Counts expansion classroom at Amazing Kidz Academy LLC in Philadelphia yesterday. Officials visited with students and participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate state funding increases for early care and education and the Amazing Kidz Academy LLC acquisition of the real estate comprising of 3 buildings, where they opened their first child care center, in Oxford Circle. Participants included Mayor Jim Kenney, State Senators Christine Tartaglione and Sharif Street, State Representatives Jason Dawkins and Danilo Burgos, City Councilmember Cherelle Parker, Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal, and students, teachers and administrators at Amazing Kidz Academy LLC.
“It’s an amazing day to have so many distinguished guests visit our Oxford Circle site… to mark the passage of the 2022-23 state budget that includes a $79 million increase for more of Pennsylvania’s three- and four-year-olds to attend Pre-K Counts and Head Start, and to celebrate our purchasing of the school building and other parcels at the site where we opened our first child care space,” said Lisa Smith, President of Amazing Kidz Academy LLC. “This $79 million increase is important because we know that 43 percent of income eligible 3- and 4-year-olds in Philadelphia do not yet have access to publicly funded high-quality pre-k. This equates to more than 12,000 income eligible three- and four-year-olds still lacking access to these services every year in our City.
“Across Pennsylvania more, than 100,000 eligible three- and four-year-olds are waiting. Additional funding enables us to attract, recruit, and retain highly qualified staff, offering a real living wage, health and pension benefits, that we would could not afford, without the increased PreK budgetary spending.”
The Pre-K Counts expansion classrooms at Amazing Kidz Academy LLC were made possible by the infusion of an additional $60 million in funding for the Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts Program and $19 million for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program as part of the state’s 2022-2023 state budget. Together, this new funding will allow roughly 2,300 additional students access to high-quality pre-k. Pre-K Counts and the Head Start State Supplemental are the primary state funding sources for high-quality pre-k in Pennsylvania.
Carol Austin, Executive Director of First Up and a principal partner in the Pre-K for PA Campaign, noted that access to high-quality pre-k is an important part of a child’s opportunity to lead a prosperous life. Austin cited a recent study by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill showing that kids enrolled in Pre-K Counts outperformed kindergarten peers who did not have access to pre-k. This advantage equated to four to five months of learning gains, which is a substantial difference in development at that age.
“These outcomes are significant because language and math skills have been shown to be the school readiness skills that most strongly predict later academic achievement,” said Austin.
Austin also referenced recent polling data showing that 90 percent of registered voters in Pennsylvania agreed that early care and education are important investments that help set kids on a path to leading healthy and productive lives.
Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal added that high-quality pre-k programs are not only an important part of our educational system, but also as a critical part of our overall community safety efforts. “Studies show that high-quality pre-k programs also reduce problematic social and self-control behaviors that hinder student learning and can lead to future delinquency and even crime,” said Bilal.
Participants thanked state lawmakers for their support at the state level which has led to more state funding for Pre-K Counts and Head Start year after year.
Read article here.
Chalkbeat: Officials celebrate expansion of Philadelphia pre-K program after state budget increase
By Dale Mezzacappa November 17, 2022
Philadelphia and state officials gathered Thursday morning to celebrate the expansion of a well-established prekindergarten program in the Oxford Circle area, and to highlight the increase in state spending on early childhood programs.
The officials — including Mayor Jim Kenney, Sheriff Rochelle Bilal, and newly elected state representative Anthony Bellmon — toured classrooms at the Amazing Kidz Academy in the 1200 block of East Cheltenham Ave.
This year, Amazing Kidz, which has four locations, was able to add 80 slots through PreK Counts and Head Start following a combined $79 million increase for those programs that lawmakers adopted in Pennsylvania’s current budget. Thursday’s event was the ceremonial opening of new classrooms at Glading Presbyterian Church.
The event was sponsored by Pre-K for PA, a nonpartisan statewide coalition of individuals and organizations campaigning to increase the availability of high-quality and affordable early childhood programs.
Additional state aid for early education is important “because looking at Philadelphia as a whole, we know that 43% of income-eligible 3- and 4-year olds, or 12,000 children, do not have access to publicly funded, high-quality pre-K,” said Lisa Smith, the owner and operator of Amazing Kidz.
“Free, high-quality pre-K is a universal opportunity for society and families of all demographics to level the playing field in kindergarten readiness and developing children into lifetime lovers of learning,” Smith said.
Amazing Kidz has the capacity for 452 children and employs 53 staff members over four locations, Smith said. Smith was able to purchase three buildings at Glading – the gym, the church, and the school.
Carol Austin, the executive director of First Up, a pre-K advocacy group, said that this issue inspires agreement across party lines and across all demographic groups. Austin noted that in a poll last year of registered voters, 90% agreed that early care and education is important to help “set children on a path to healthy and productive lives. Imagine trying to get 90% of people to agree on something. Yet, they did.”
Kenney, who will leave office in January 2024 after serving two terms, regards the city’s early childhood initiative, PHLPre-K, as one of his biggest achievements.
During a tour, Kenney sat with children in two classrooms as they learned about letters and sounds and later made a joke at his own expense.
“People say I don’t smile,” he said later. “If you want to see me happy, take me to a pre-K.”
He recounted a story in which one of his own assistants went to a pre-K with him that she had attended herself as a 4-year-old. He also recalled the SEPTA bus driver, and mother of two, who told him the availability of free, high-quality pre-K allowed her to get a job.
Read the full article here.
WFMZ: Pre-K expansion celebrated in Schuylkill County
By James Esposito Jr. November 16, 2022
A ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday celebrated the expansion of Pre-K Counts program at the Coaldale Complex as part of an effort to provide more access to high-quality pre-kindergarten programs.
The complex is part of the early learning partnership the Lehigh Valley Children’s Center has with Panther Valley School District.
Expansion of Pre-K Counts was made possible by the inclusion of $79 million in additional pre-kindergarten funding agreed to in the 2022-23 state budget, including $60 million for Pre-K Counts and $19 million for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program, LVCC reports.
The funding will provide approximately 2,300 additional Pennsylvania students access to high-quality pre-kindergarten.
In the Panther Valley School District, the funding will pay for two new classrooms, which will provide 30 more children with high-quality early education, Shawn Bariana, marketing and communications manager of Lehigh Valley Children’s Center, said.
This will make a total of three Pre-K Counts classrooms in the district. The pilot classroom started in fall 2021 in Nesquehoning, and the two classrooms in Coaldale are an expansion of this successful model, Bariana said.
“We know that 67% of income-eligible 3- and 4-year-olds in Schuylkill County do not yet have access to publicly funded high-quality pre-K,” Charles Dinofrio, CEO/president of Lehigh Valley Children’s Centers, was quoted in a news release. He said that equates to more than 6,600 students of those ages who still lack access to such services in the county.
“Across Pennsylvania, more than 100,000 eligible 3- and 4-year-olds are waiting,” he added.
Bruce Clash, state director of Fight Crime: Invest In Kids and a principal partner in the Pre-K for PA Campaign, said access to high-quality pre-kindergarten is an important part of a child’s opportunity to lead a prosperous life.
Read the full article here.
Lancaster Newspaper: Manheim Township School District unveils new pre-K classroom at Brecht Elementary School
October 31, 2022 by Ashley Stalnecker
Manheim Township School District celebrated the opening of its newest pre-K classroom at Brecht Elementary School on Monday, while local leaders emphasized the need for additional pre-K classrooms throughout Lancaster County.
Thanks to the inclusion of an additional $79 million in pre-K funding in the 2022-23 state budget, Manheim Township School District opened its fourth pre-K classroom last week through Owl Hill Learning Center, adding 18 seats to its overall count. The district also has three 20-student pre-K classrooms at Bucher Elementary School.
Yet, the county and Pennsylvania as a whole are still in need of high-quality pre-K care.
In Lancaster County, 77% of 8,610 3- to 4-year-old income eligible children do not have access to high quality pre-K care. That’s a rate slightly higher than the 66% of 167,470 eligible children without access to high quality pre-K care statewide. Income eligible children are those in families making 300% or below the federal poverty level or a four-family income of $83,250 or lower.
High quality pre-K care is defined by Pre-K for PA as programs with teachers who have obtained a degree that includes early childhood training – a requirement for all publicly funded pre-K programs. Pre-K for PA is a nonprofit with the goal of providing high quality pre-K care for every 3- and 4-year-old child in Pennsylvania.
After a ribbon-cutting for the new classroom at Brecht Elementary, Mary Ann Garrett, CEO of Owl Hill Center, said it’s up to legislators to provide the funding necessary for more classrooms.
“Districts are becoming more and more open to create capacity to serve pre-K,” Garrett said. “The legislature has to provide the slots.”
Republican state Sen. Scott Martin said he’s in favor of directing more funding to pre-K education as the state did with the 2022-23 budget. Martin represents the 13th Senate District and is chair of the state Senate Education Committee.
“For us, obviously, the big thing is the funding,” Martin said. “Every time we can get an increase, that sizable in funding is going to help break into those waiting lists…. We got to keep that momentum going and keep getting new dollars that can go to these formulas from pre-K all the way up through our seniors in high school. All our educational entities will benefit from that.”
Read the full article here.
ABC27: Pennsylvania State and Local Officials Celebrate New Lancaster County Preschool Classrooms
October 31, 2022 by Kaylee Fuller
LANCASTER, Pa. (WHTM) — On Monday Pennsylvania state and county officials celebrated the added capacity of high-quality preschool slots at a Lancaster County school.
Officials gathered to participate in a classroom visit, press conference, and ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the added capacity of high-quality preschool slots at Manheim Township’s Brecht Elementary School.
“Funding is the number one thing that goes to their ability to run a classroom, to have the space and hire personnel that are a part of that. Our goal is as long as there are waiting lists, we have a lot more work to do,” said Senator Scott Martin.
Watch the video here.
